Oh No We Didn't by Gil Hale (G)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE PROFESSIONALS
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Length: Short story
Author on LJ:
Author Website: Gil Hale's Fan Fiction
Why this must be read: Gil Hale writes Pros as I see it in the episodes - showing a deep connection between our two lads. She understands who they are, she knows where they live and how they work and what makes them smile. There's nothing explicit in her stories - I suspect she'd deny all knowledge of any kind of "pairing" - but she writes Bodie/Doyle all the same.

Oh No We Didn't is a fun example of exactly that - of the CI5 world in which the lads operate, and of their own little circle of two. If it doesn't make you smile all the way through, but particularly at the end, then slap me in the back end of a cow suit... *g*

Excerpt:
“I can’t understand it,” he grumbled over his coffee. “I don’t see how Bodie and Doyle could have been in two places at once, but if they’re not involved how come they haven’t been up on the board looking like idiots.”

“That’s easy,” Bodie said cheerfully. He’d come in behind Murphy and had been imitating all his gestures to the silent amusement of everyone else in the room. “Doyle and I don’t get ourselves into these situations. Unlike you, my son. How could anyone miss seeing a line of bloomers big enough to power an ocean-going yacht?”

“I saw the bloomers all right,” Murphy protested. “It was the clothes prop I didn’t spot.”

Oh No We Didn't

Comments

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I still can't believe you said this.

I suspect she'd deny all knowledge of any kind of "pairing" - but she writes Bodie/Doyle all the same.

Wow. This fandom is really something.

Apparently everyone except the author gets to say... not what they think... not what they like to see... but what a story "really" is.

I thought it was just going to be the gen police.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Apparently everyone except the author gets to say... not what they think... not what they like to see... but what a story "really" is.
Hmmn, I think you're worried about my wording rather than anything else, but you really needn't be. Reviews and recommendations are opinions, and that's all they ever are - so the above is simply my opinion, my description of what I see and what I'd like to recommend to others. As with all opinions, some people will agree and some will disagree, and that's okay. For example I expect, as you quoted in your comment, that the author herself would disagree with me about some things (though who knows, I might be wrong about that - she's certainly welcome to respond, in fact I'd love it if she did!)

There's very little "really" about a story though - once it's left the author's pen and been read by even one other person, it begins to gather a life of its own, because it's then interacting with other viewpoints and experiences and interpretations of its words. The first time this really struck me was after I'd written and posted a story for a challenge - someone's comments made it clear they absolutely read it as a death fic, whereas I'd had absolutely no thought that the character would die. I was astounded and disturbed for a while, and kept re-reading it, trying to see how I'd been misinterpreted - but although I could see the way she'd read it, it still didn't read like that to me. In the end I realised it was just okay - we can't control other people's thoughts and experiences, and what she'd read was my story to her.

I actually read a (more general) article about interpreting stories just the other day, and found myself nodding along - Chasing Rainbows: Why Myths Matter (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/18/chasing-rainbows-why-myths-matter?INTCMP=SRCH), about the dangers of trying to force a literal interpretation on what we read. It's okay to go beyond that, it's okay to have different interpretations of things.

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

...it's okay to have different interpretations of things.

I'm glad to hear you say so. It didn't sound like you thought this at all.

You are so intelligent, well-educated & ALWAYS careful in your word choices. But now your wording doesn't matter?

Wording DOES matter.

And it reveals a whole lot in a fandom where gen and slash views can be so very belittling of one another. After ‘meeting’ you online, I really didn’t expect to see that from you.

If someone posted the following review, I wonder what the reaction of the fandom, or you, would be:

(Author) writes Pros as I see it in the episodes - showing a deep connection between our two lads. She understands who they are, she knows where they live and how they work and what makes them smile. The stories are labelled slash, but there's nothing sexual in her stories. I suspect she'd deny all knowledge of this, but she writes gen all the same.

Would that matter, to you and to most slash readers--or the author?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear you say so. It didn't sound like you thought this at all.
I'm afraid I'm genuinely baffled about why you think this, and about what you feel was careless in my wording. And there's very little "belittling" of gen in Pros fandom, that I'm aware of - the Pros that I hang around in isn't that sort of fandom! But you seem very upset that I saw this story in the same way I see the episodes? To me, though, that's the mark of a good story.

If someone posted the following review, I wonder what the reaction of the fandom, or you, would be
I honestly wouldn't mind at all, I'd take it as the author's opinion, I might be a bit puzzled as to where she got it from if I read the story another way, but that's all.

[nickygabriel]

There's nothing explicit in her stories - I suspect she'd deny all knowledge of any kind of "pairing" - but she writes Bodie/Doyle all the same.

If somebody wrote something like that about my stories I would feel very upset. I don't mind if people read my gen stories as slash/het and my slash/het stories as gen, but telling me how I WRITE them is imo rude.
And there IS a difference between saying: “I read your story as Bodie/Doyle” and “You wrote a Bodie/Doyle story.”
I don’t know the author of this story and maybe she doesn’t mind/care, so what I wrote here is just my opinion and doesn’t have to be taken into consideration :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well welcome to the discussion... *g*

I see where you're coming from by taking that sentence in isolation, but you really need to read it in context with my previous sentence. So:
Gil Hale writes Pros as I see it in the episodes... she writes Bodie/Doyle all the same

So I did actually say, explicitly in that first sentence as I see it in the episodes. I'd hope it's clear that this recommednation is my opinion - firstly from the fact that it's a recommendation - and secondly, from that very phrase.

People interpret things differently all the time - reviews as well as stories, clearly! As I read it, Gil Hale wrote a Bodie/Doyle story, but as you read it she didn't. It's all opinions, and that's really all it can ever be. As long as we're respectful of each other, in the discussing of it, all is good.

[nickygabriel]

If I read only the beginning of the paragraph and only the ending, without the middle part, than yes, I can see your point :)